Gluing heatsinks

vargyMay 2, 2012, 2:27 PM

So i think i have a problem with my memory overheating on my radeon hd6790.Is it a decent solution to stick some heatsinks with hotmelt on memory chips?Should i secure heatsinks with something but hotmelt?Could it potentially backfire? Has anyone had experience with this?

I used super glue on a southbridge heatsink since I wasn't about to get a solution more expensive for something that didn't need too much heat dissipation. If you believe that it's those components which are overheating, then there's really no problem doing that. Not suggested for a processor, or the gpu of a graphics card, but memory chips and bridges are good to use that on.

I offer them as an alternative, if you hadn't bought the sinks already, the ones I linked have adhesive pads, similar to the pads I linked, but you have them so its those kind of pads or glue, I'd choose the pads personally but it is ofc your money and choice in the end :-)Moto

Regarding them conductivity, most of those suggestions will work fine.

There is one area which you will need to consider before you apply your solution.

If you only use the glue to hold the heatsinks on the chips, you need to make sure that the heat from the chips and surrounding area, will not bring that material to flowing state, essentially breaking the bond between the memory chips and the sink and gravity doing its awful work and pulling those sinks off the card, possibly to something conductive underneath and creating some nice sparks and the magic smoke.

Regarding them conductivity, most of those suggestions will work fine.

There is one area which you will need to consider before you apply your solution.

If you only use the glue to hold the heatsinks on the chips, you need to make sure that the heat from the chips and surrounding area, will not bring that material to flowing state, essentially breaking the bond between the memory chips and the sink and gravity doing its awful work and pulling those sinks off the card, possibly to something conductive underneath and creating some nice sparks and the magic smoke.

that was my main concern with this method, but is there a way to make sure heatsinks don't drop? It seems to me that the only way is to ask about previous experience from others. I can also glue some non-conductive wires to the heatsinks and to the board this securing hem for good, but this method seems even more crude and completely irreversible.

I use a mixture of normal paste with some super glue (4 small dots, one on each corner) for every chip. Super glue will not melt and so the rest of the paste (95% of the area) will do the heat conduction, while the glue (5%) is enough to keep the sinks in place.

that was my main concern with this method, but is there a way to make sure heatsinks don't drop? It seems to me that the only way is to ask about previous experience from others. I can also glue some non-conductive wires to the heatsinks and to the board this securing hem for good, but this method seems even more crude and completely irreversible.

If you properly use a Thermal Adhesive which is actually 2 part thermal epoxy to secure the Ram Sinks it is a permanent solution, they will not fall off and will not come off without taking the memory chips with it.

The link above is non electrically conductive Artic Silver Alumina, a permanent solution, and to get the best Thermal Bond I recommend seating the Ram Sinks and then adding some type of pressure on them overnight, for maximum contact bond.

Make sure you understand this is a permanent solution you will not be removing these to return to your stock cooler.

Be absolutely positive that the Ram Sinks are as tall as possible to fit under your GPU cooling solution and still have clearance between their tops and the cooling fins

You want as much cooling as you can possibly get from the Ram Sinks, so even though you already have some, make sure they are tall enough, this is a one shot deal for you.

It's very important to thoroughly clean both contacting surfaces before applying the Thermal Adhesive, Q-tips and 70% isopropyl alcohol will do just fine, clean until you show no residual residue.

I used the kit from Arctic Silver that I bought off of newegg. Two syringes that you mix together in equal amounts. I bought a used motherboard from someone and when I got it I noticed the NB had no heatsink on it and the clip to attach one was broken. He said he thought it was normal as he ran that board for years with no HS on the NB. I glued one on. It was my first time using it and I don't think I did a good job mixing as two years latter the HS did fall off. But I was replacing the board so I didn't care at that point. As Ryan mentioned if done properly it shouldn't ever come off.